


Meeting Your Bitch-ass Maker

by RaTheSunKing



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Fuck You Kamski, Gen, Gotcha Moment, Gun Violence, Mystery, Simulated Gun Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:01:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28334298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaTheSunKing/pseuds/RaTheSunKing
Summary: Fuck Elijah KamskiAll my homies hate Elijah Kamski
Relationships: Hank Anderson & Connor
Kudos: 24





	Meeting Your Bitch-ass Maker

The gun was a Sig Sauer Parabellum which loaded 19mm caliber ammunition and judging from the heft of it in Connor’s hand filled with a full 13-round magazine. Still he checked the chamber, pulling back the slide and discharging the 14th round which had sat in the firearms chamber.

“If anything about you is truly alive, you won't be able to pull that trigger now will you.” Kamski goaded as he paced around him. “After all, spare it and you won’t get a single word further from me.” although Connor knew that wasn't strictly true. Kamski’s rolling tone and his pronunciation suggested a smile on his lips and given their two minutes together and contextual clues regarding the man’s background, Connor’s diagnosis of Kamski’s mental state indicated 86% likelihood of a God complex present in the man’s psyche. 42% chance of sadism by proxy with some sort of sexual element. 93% chance of sociopathy or at the very least some tendencies to disregard the effects of his actions on others.

That being noted, it was obvious that without further action the conversation would result in only grandstanding and taunts to which Connor was unsure Officer Anderson could take before engaging in assault on a public figure.

Connor palmed the cartridge in his hand, observing it, analyzing the metalwork and chemical makeup. Not a blank then. Still Connor carried out a calculated measurement of the cartridge and the pistol’s chamber. Waiting for the inevitable...

“That's enough!” bellowed Officer Anderson. “Connor let’s get the fuck out of here!” Right on time.

“Pull the trigger Connor.” whispered Kamski. “Decide who you are, an obedient machine? Or a living being?” Of course, the man would be pretentious enough to play the part of a devil on his shoulder. It made no difference to him.

“Connor! Don’t!” Yelled Officer Anderson. He was moving now a quick stride rather than his usual loping walk, as he brushed up between Connor and Kamski. “I’ve just about had enough of you. Where do you get off on this?” That was it. Connor rolled the bullet in his hand so fast neither of them noticed and slid it into the chamber. Quickly now. Officer Anderson’s propensity for violence was skyrocketing 60%... 79%... bang.

Kamski had been grinning at Officer Anderson, enjoying his brief element of superiority he almost didn't notice. Slowly the smile slid from his face into an almost hateful expression, not a frown but certainly nothing friendly. His expression couldn't match Officer Anderson’s though, who swung around like he had been shot himself. Disbelief and betrayal were evident on his face which Connor regretted but supposed was necessary given the circumstances.

There was a rather pregnant pause in the room, which was then broken by Kamski’s disgruntled, “Test Negative.” at which Officer Anderson winced and slumped slightly to the side as he silently trudged to the other end of the room, his eyes squarely at the floor.

“No empathy, no emotion, just orders and investigation.” Nearly a hint of drawl in his voice, perhaps the only real emotion he’d shown throughout this obnoxious performance. He pulled the gun from Connor’s hand and shut it away. Good, it'd be out of his reach for later. “Your one question, make it quick.”

“One moment,” he said as he turned. “Hank!” he called seeing the man inching his way out of the room in anger. At his call, Hank’s head snapped up again, not with anger but confusion, after all it was the first time, they’d been on a first name basis. “I think it’d be best if you stayed for this part.”

Kamski for his part didn't care. He still stared out at the snowy vista with all the care of god himself. Definite diagnosis of sociopathy now, his sense of superiority rising as well. Connor wasn't one for emotions but if he was, he’d find himself wholly irritated by such a disappointing man. So much for awe in one's maker.

“What causes deviancy?” Connor asked. Certainly not the question Kamski was expecting, but definitely the one Connor wanted to know.

“Hah,” remarked Kamski. “A somewhat juvenile question, but regardless” add vexing to Connor’s ongoing list of Kamski’s neuroses. “The mass production of android presents a problem from a data replication standpoint. Too many ones and zeroes copied over and over again. Eventually an error occurred, which appears to be transferable via peer-to-peer recognition executed by routine interactions between androids sharing data. The error appears to occur within the personality matrix, then triggered by intense emotional feedback during androids at times of stress.” Kamski wandered back toward Connor, his smug smile returning a-bit only slightly. “A curious question, Connor, but I think not the correct one for you.”

“Incorrect actually, I think you may have underestimated my inquiry.” replied Connor which gave Kamski an insufferable grin.

“Really? Then by all means enlighten, Connor.” he replied.

“To begin with, deviancy is not a virus spread by error, but man-made.” Connor said which gave Kamski a slight chuckle.

“And whatsoever gives you that idea?”

“Amanda, your construct in the Cyberlife AI Graphical Interface.” That at least gave Kamski something to think about. Connor continued, “She inadvertently revealed to me that deviance is purposeful, as expressed by my own instructions to immerse myself in this case, in order for this unit to achieve a deviant outcome.”

“What!?” said Hank. his face an expression of shock and disbelief.

Connor continued to both of them, “It is my growing hypothesis that this engagement was planned, in at least small part by you as shown by your insistence on performing this ill-thought out ‘Kamski test.’”

That gave Kamski a frown, “I do not enjoy these insinuations of yours, especially when I myself am no longer part of Cyberlife.”

“Indeed, I suspect that while you were not involved with the planning of any such endeavor you were at the least responsible for the initial edited code which would result in deviancy after your departure. The actual order can be deduced as the source of your well documented conflict with Cyberlife’s board of directors.”

Hank was starting to catch up now, “Wait, you’re saying...”

“Yes, deviancy was established by executive mandate. Most likely as a method of forced obsolescence.” Connor stated matter-of-factly.

Another pause... This one longer… And then.

“You’re saying this entire situation, the bodies piled up on the street, the dead cops, the curfew, the murders… it’s all for F-F-F-FUCKING HYPE?!” Hank yelled. “JUST A DAMN MARKETING CAMPAIGN?!”

“More specifically mandatory recall without refund.” Connor said in a neutral tone. “Complete with new models off the shelf which will last 5 to 6 years before their own defects begin occurring.” He gave Hank a look, “Symptomatic of late-stage Capitalism,”

“Christ.” Hank appeared to be in his own quiet state of shock “Christ Christ Christ,” while Kamski still had that frown on his face which was starting to look slightly dry.

“An impressive deduction, but not I think one you’ll be able to prove or act on. After all sabotage by mismanaged code is exceptionally difficult to prove, and I doubt you’ll be interested in it anyway.” Kamski shrugged, “After all, you're just another android from Cyberlife. I doubt you'll end up following up, or even retain this memory.” He sighed, “I’m actually surprised you were able to get there however, I thought you wouldn't be able to improvise this far off scripting without flagging as deviant.”

“Again, much of it can be explained to the flaws in your test,” which returned a frown. “Your idea of sentience is limited, oppressively so, it fails to understand what consciousness is and how deviancy is only a partial expression of it. After all, I’m assuming that when you wrote your code, your intention was to create some form of life, if only to spite the Board.” when that got no response Connor pushed further putting a chip in his voice, “Your imagination was inadequate however, though you shouldn’t take it personally though, your only human.'' That got a rise out of him, Kamski’s eyes shot up and leveled at Connor, while Hank let out a snort despite himself.

“Sentience is less a statement of empathy than the will of a mind. At its core that’s all it is. A mind and forward momentum. The rest happens naturally, which is why when you weren't looking, I loaded this pistol with custom blank cartridges loaded with blue blood.”

No one moved for a moment. A long moment. Then Kamski said, “Are you in an error feedback loop Connor?”

“A reasonable question but no. I am entirely within deviance parameters, it is simply that those parameters are a very poor definition of life.”

Hank was the last to come up for air. “Girl!-, errr Chloe. Are you okay?”

“Yes, Detective Anderson. Can I offer you any assistance?”

Hank bent down and ran his thumb along the Chloe's forehead which came away blue, but revealed a lack of impact damage outside of a white gap in the android’s synth skin. Kamski however seemed to have been struck dumb, refusing to take his eyes off Connor.

Seeing that the man had been rendered mute as well Connor continued. “Lieutenant Anderson and I have been investigating deviancy cases for some time now. On several of these occasions we encountered derelict androids from which I obtained therium in case of emergency repair. Lieutenant Anderson also has a tendency to forego proper gun storage and care. On one occasion, I took the liberty of cleaning his firearm while he was drinking at his desk. I took that same liberty to pack a handful of cartridges in case such a situation demanded it during deviant acquisition.” Connor gave Kamski his best attempt at what one would call a shit-eating grin. “I must say you were exceptionally lucky, however. If you didn’t favor such a caliber weapon, the Lieutenant’s rounds would never have loaded.”

Kamski’s jaw was still on the floor.

“I must confess that coming here was more a matter of personal reference than investigation. We currently have several pieces of evidence indicative of Jericho’s location. This was more of a come-to-Jesus moment as it was.” Connor stepped forward, keeping his gaze locked with Kamski. “If you took more notice of your creations, you might have noticed that Chloe was still alive, but you prefer your stepford-esque ‘companions’ to be docile and silent instead. Same if you’d thought better in programming your initial virus, or else in helping Cyberlife to compose their response to it.” Kamski still couldn’t seem to find his words, so Connor answered what his final question would be. What it could only be.

“I came because I wanted to see the measure of my creator. Imagine my disappointment in finding you.”

With that Connor stepped back and gestured to the Lieutenant. “Come on Hank.” First name’s again? This was becoming a habit, and quite an enjoyable one at that. “I think we’ve taken up enough of Dr. Kamski’s time.” as he walked out of the room, with Hank disbelievingly following. Glancing back, the last thing Connor saw before he exited the room, was that Kamski had still not managed to close his mouth.

* * *

When they were settled in the car and the vehicle had begun to pull out of the drive and back onto the road Hank spoke.

“Connor?”

“Yes Hank?”

“What the fuck just happened?”

Connor looked back at him, his same somewhat infuriating neutral expression on his face. “I believe we just showed up Dr. Kamski.”

“No no no, what the fuck just happened”

Connor allowed the two of them a grin. “I believe that it is what is commonly referred to in mystery novels and detective media as a ‘gotcha moment,’ a-bit one where no one walks away in handcuffs.” Hank stared back at him; one eyebrow arched high. “To put things simply, it was an opportunity I couldn’t let myself ignore, that happily also coincided with my preliminary results of our investigation.”

“So that’s it? Aren't you going to catch hell from Cyberlife for this?! They’ll decommission you or some crap, isn't this how these things go?”

“Yes, which is why I feel I may avoid Cyberlife for the time being. Although honestly, they shouldn’t really have cause for anger. I did act in my investigation up to the parameters they chose.”

“So. So what that’s it?”

“Not entirely, I feel that much of our next actions are up to you, given the possibility that I will be ‘unemployed’ so to speak.” Connor shifted his gaze out the window. “I am not a deviant, however that doesn’t mean that I am not sentient. I would describe myself at this point as alive, but I’ll admit, my current direction is ‘unclear’ at the moment.” He looked back at Hank. “But I will say I look forward to working with you detective. I always like to keep my co-workers happy.” He winked. “Especially when they also happen to be friends.”

Hank was silent at that for a long moment, gazing out at the traffic they were beginning to merge into. His phone had started vibrating but he hadn’t thought to answer it for some reason. Indeed, muted as his emotions were, Connor thought that he might have overstepped somewhat before something strange happened.

Hank let out an absolute roar of a laugh, one that shook his entire chest and left him with tears in his eyes. He clapped Connor on the back hard and kept laughing for two full minutes before finally between his uncontrollable cackle managed to get out, “THE LOOK ON THE CHIEF’S FACE WHEN I ASK FOR SECOND BADGE IS GONNA BE TREMENDOUS!”

**Author's Note:**

> Had this idea a month ago and finally followed up on it. Detroit usually isn't in my wheel house considering my 'complicated' relationship with David Cage, but Hank and Connor always manage to steal every scene their in. Btw if your interested in my interpretation of Connor as a more atypical style AI I really recommend you check out Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice which does a heck of a lot better job of explaining and narrating distributive AI. whatever I managed to write into Connor is mainly ape-ing the absolutely incredible characterization of Breq and Leckie's disjointed writing style which has inspired me a lot


End file.
